Brotherhood Supporters Protest at Egypt's Universities

Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood protest against the military at universities in Egypt.

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Elad Benari, 09/10/13 04:45

Protest against the military in front of Cair

Reuters

Hundreds of supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood chanted “Down with the military government” outside Cairo University on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

Supporters of deposed President Mohammed Morsi had urged university students to protest against the army following the violence on Sunday, one of Egypt's bloodiest days since the military ousted the Islamist leader on July 3.

The death toll from Sunday's unrest rose to 57, state media said, with 391 people wounded. Sunday’s clashes took place as Morsi supporters protested in several cities as thousands took to the streets on the 40th anniversary of the 1973 war with Israel.

“We are here standing against the coup,” said a 19-year-old student who took place in Tuesday’s march near Cairo University, where security forces had parked two tanks and blocked the main road with barbed wire.

“I'm against Morsi but I'm not for people killing others and I'm not for the military government we have now,” said the student.

Small protests also occurred at Helwan University in southern Cairo, witnesses told Reuters. At Zagazig University, northeast of Cairo, pro-Brotherhood students clashed with residents and Brotherhood opponents with fists, sticks and stones, security sources said. Eight people were wounded.

Hundreds of people have been killed and more than 2,000 arrested in a police crackdown on Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement since August 14, when police forcibly dispersed two protest camps that were set up in Cairo.

Since August, Egypt's authorities have rounded up dozens of senior leaders of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, including the movement’s Supreme Guide, leaving the group unable to rally huge crowds to protest for Morsi's reinstatement.

Last month, a court banned the Brotherhood and froze its assets, pushing the group, which had dominated elections since Hosni Mubarak's fall in 2011, further into the cold. A court is due to hear an appeal of that decision on October 22.